Brown says she's not the first black lawmaker to be 'persecuted'

TALLAHASSEE — In a statement posted on her campaign website, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown suggested her indictment last week on fraud-related charges is part of a larger problem with a legal system that targets black people.

"I’m not the first black elected official to be persecuted and, sad to say, I won’t be the last,” she wrote.

Story Continued Below

Brown, a Democrat, and her chief of staff, Ronnie Simmons, were hit with a 24-count federal indictment Friday related to their involvement with an education group that federal officials say is a scam. Prosecutors say that Brown used her official post as a member of Congress to solicit $800,000 in donations. That money, according to the indictment, was used on personal items.

In the statement, Brown said that her side of the story has not yet come out.

“The most important thing I want you to understand is that an indictment is not a conviction,” she wrote. “An indictment is an accusation. Anybody can make an accusation. You’ve heard the prosecutor’s side, but you still have not heard the rest of the story.”

If convicted on all charges, both Brown and Simmons could face up to more than 300 years in jail.

Brown opened her new statement saying “last week was very rough,” and referenced the shooting in Dallas that left five police officers dead, and police-involved shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana that left two black men dead.

"Two black men were needlessly gunned down by police; 5 Dallas police officers were slain by a demented man, and on Friday I had to appear in federal court,” she wrote.